New Life
by Lilhedgehog
Summary: 'I'd never seen anything like it. Something in his eyes was old, much too old to fit the youth of his body. I stood there, transfixed.' My version of Embry imprinting. POV of imprintee.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own the twilight saga. Stephenie Meyer does. **

**Chapter 1 - Experiments**

Ever wanted to try something different? Be someone new, and discover someplace else? Being 18 years old, fresh out of school and eager leave my life as a minor behind, I decided to make a change. In my case, this meant leaving behind the flat fields of England and exploring the USA. More specifically, I'm getting to know a small restaurant in the vast forests that cover Washington State.

It is so beautiful! It's so untamed, unlike the overpopulated countryside surrounding London. And America is so different to back home – it's probably a good thing I can't afford a car, since everyone here drives on the wrong side of the road!

Anyway, despite how much I would love to 'ooh and ahh' about how different it is here, that's not why I decided to try living on the other side of the world for a year. Home is a long way away, but the independence is amazing! Yes, it means I have to do my own washing, but no homework, no moaning parents (I know they love me and all, but this bird needs to fly away from the nest) and best of all, no Nathan.

The small town of Forks is the perfect escape for me. I love the countryside, love the peace and quiet, the small town gossip and feeling of belonging. Well, eventually I hope to feel like I belong. Margaret, my landlady, is the type of person that scares me a little for no reason – like a strict teacher. But she has been kind to me, and cooks dinner every day despite me offering to help out every now and then. I find it's the little things people do that mean the most to me, and having a hot meal ready every day of the week sure is nice.

However, preparing meals for the rest of Forks, every day, is not so great. I remind myself again that I am being paid for this, and smile at Sarah (the head-chef and chief-nag).

'How many times do I have to tell you? Take more care in your work Callie. You're ruining that mozzarella!'

I slow in my cutting and try to make the slices of cheese more even.

Two minutes later: 'Hurry up Callie, we haven't got all day you know! The mozzarella does not need to be _perfectly_ cut.'

I sigh. It's Friday of my first week working at The Lodge. Somehow I get the feeling that it's going to be a long year. I thankfully finish cutting the mozzarella and spread the pieces over various pizzas. Louise, a confident waitress with fiery red hair, pokes her hear into the kitchen to give an order.

'Hey new girl. The girls and I are heading to the beach tomorrow evening. Fancy tagging along?' She smiled kindly at me.

Watching TV with Margaret was not exactly how I wanted to spend my first Saturday evening, so I smiled back timidly. 'Sure, thanks.'

'Great! I'll pick you up at 7pm. Bring some marshmallows – there'll be a campfire.' With that she flounced happily back out of the kitchen.

Well, I thought to myself, that was nice of her. I'd spoken a few times to the other kitchen staff and waitresses, and it was good to know at least one of them wanted to spend time with me. The last half an hour of my shift flew by, the thought of spending time with people my own age cheering me up.

Saturday came around soon enough, and I spent most of the day reading. At first, I curled up with my book on an old, green but surprisingly comfortable sofa. 'What are you doing inside Callie?' asked Margaret. 'It's a beautiful sunny day, don't waste it. The rain will be back before you know it.' So I spent the rest of the day-time in the garden, trying to enjoy the sun, popping out once to the shops to stock up on marshmallows to distract me. The trouble was that lying on the grass reminded me of him. Nathan, the guy I'd obsessed over for the past two years, who'd told me he wanted me, who'd spent last summer with me as we blissfully enjoyed the sunshine. We used to lie outside for hours, talking about ourselves, our live and our futures.

Now, I was never naive enough to believe that we were destined to spend the rest of our lives together. I don't believe that there is one guy out there for me, and only me. But I hoped that maybe Nathan would stick around in my life. He's clever, funny, gorgeous, and I thought we connected.

Turns out I was wrong about that.

That evening, Louise arrived late, hustling me out of the house, which I was grateful for. I welcomed the distraction. The drive to the beach was fun, as I was introduced to Louise's friends and they all seemed friendly.

When we pulled up at the beach, there was already a fire burning and plenty of people dotted around it. For a while I sat next to Louise, as they chattered away to our companions and I was simply content to listen.

'Hey there, you must be the new girl. I'm Alan' said a cute looking guy as he sat down on my other side.

I smiled back. 'Hi, I'm Callie.'

'Hey, look at that, someone as blonde as me!' He grinned at me, and held a strand of my hair close to his head.

A little uncomfortable with the sudden closeness, I nodded and pulled my head away gently. Brushing it off, Alan lent in closer to me. 'So, you're from England, huh?'

Being foreign apparently made me more interesting. 'Yeah.'

'Do you like cucumber sandwiches then? Oh, have you met the Queen?'

'Um, no, I don't and I haven't.' He looked at me a little confused. I was beginning to hope someone else would start talking to me, so I turned to see what Louise was doing.

She was shifting restlessly on the log we were sitting on, looking panicked and unsure. Confused, I peered over my shoulder to see what had caught her attention. Five men, joking amongst themselves, were emerging from the trees. As they got closer, I realised that not only did they look very similar, but they were all huge and powerfully built.

I opened my mouth to ask Louise what was wrong, when she grabbed my hand and pulled me further down the beach. Alan looked at me through puppy eyes, so I whispered an apology and followed Louise.

'Are you alright?' I asked cautiously

Louise gaped at me a bit, before pulling herself together. 'Sorry for dragging you off like that Callie. I just- . Can you keep a secret?' I nodded. 'It's just, you see, there are stories.'

'What stories?'

'About the Quileutes. I've heard rumours about them. About how they all look so similar, and no-one knows how old they are. And I saw one of them once, running into the woods, completely naked!'

'Jeez. What makes them so different?'

'No-one knows. But, I think they're-.' She leant in closer to me, and whispered in my ear 'I think they're clones!'


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own the twilight saga. Stephenie Meyer does. (If you don't know what parts of this writing is hers, go read the books. You know you want to!)**

**Chapter 2 - Confusion**

'What do you mean?'

'You know! Like a scientific experiment!'

I blinked stupidly at her.

'Clones?' My voice was full of disbelief.

'Yes. You know, like that sheep, when they took the DNA and...'

'Ok, I get what you mean by clones. But seriously, why would someone want to create clones?'

'I don't know, do I! But they sure creep me out.'

Footsteps on the sand had us turning round, me with a sheepish face, and Louise still looking a little scared. 'Hey.' It was Alan. 'Why'd you run off like that?' His attempt at looking pathetic was starting to wear on me.

'Just needed a girl talk.' That made him look hopeful. Sugar. 'Erm, Louise hear is.. um, she's scared of...' Louise darted me a horrified look. 'Marshmallows.' They both stared at me in disbelief. 'You know, how they look all gooey when they burn...' I looked at Louise in desperation. This has got to be the worst excuse I've ever made.

'Erm, yeah, that. It made me need some fresh air.' Her face was a picture. I hoped Alan didn't spread news of her supposed fear.

'Oh, ok then.' Alan didn't look entirely convinced. 'Well, if that's all, mind if I hang out here with you guys?' Ooh dear, this wasn't good. We were standing rigidly just insight of the fire, us girls staring out to sea, and I could feel Alan's too eager eyes on my face.

Luckily, the five tall, dark men approached us. Or maybe not luckily for Louise, who let out a little squeak and stood closer to me. Oh right, these were the 'clone' boys. Up close, they weren't identical. They just shared the same skin tone, hair colour, were all very tall, well built, and gorgeous.

I gapped at them. It wasn't that I didn't trust Louise, I just thought she had been misinformed. No way were these guys a scientific experiment. They were too human, gently play fighting amongst themselves. Two of them even picked up a third and tried to through him in the ocean. That made me giggle – and three sets of eyes focused on my face. Louise's were shocked and a little betrayed, Alan's sickly sweet (what was with this guy? I'd barely met him), and a new set of eyes from one of the two remaining newcomers. Yet somehow, these eyes, the eyes of a huge, russet skinned man, were different.

I'd never seen anything like it. Something in his eyes was old, much too old to fit the youth of his body. In his gaze there was kindness and beauty, pain and grief, laughter and everything that makes the world go round. I stood there, transfixed, doubtless with my mouth hanging open, like an idiot.

Then he smiled at me. It was like sunrise, new and fresh, and spectacular. What was he so in awe of? Certainly it wasn't me, so I looked over my shoulder – a good excuse to hide to blush I could feel spreading across my face. No way did I want to look like a tomato right now! I cursed the paleness of my skin.

It was slightly awkward, him staring at me, and neither of us saying anything. Then there was a loud splash, making me jump. The man opposite me cursed under his breath, and ran to the sea to drag out a rather sodden, furious man.

'What did you do that for? You know Claire will be furious if we bring Quil back in a bad mood. She hasn't forgiven us for last time.' The guy with the breath-taking eyes was all but shouting at the others. Louise, Alan and I watched from afar, unnoticed.

'Sorry Embry' one of the culprits grinned. 'We couldn't resist.'

'Come on bro, at least we didn't dump Paul in' his partner in crime grinned at the fifth man, who up till now had simply been watching the events unfolding.

'Collin, you know very well that it would take more than you, Brandy and Embry here to get me in the sea.' Paul said smugly.

'You calling me weak, Pauline?' snarled Quil

'Cool it guys!' laughed the guy with the eyes – Embry. An unusual name, but it suited him. He was so different – and that was definitely different in a good way.

'Ugh' Quil really didn't sound pleased. 'What are you so happy about bro?'

It was strange. Embry looked oddly guilty, unsure, and as if he was trying look everywhere except from at me. He didn't succeed though, and I felt a jolt as our eyes met again. This time his smile was goofy, and I couldn't help but grin back at this intriguing stranger.

Today seemed to be fully of new experiences. Deafening laughter shouldn't have shocked me so much, but the sight of four grown, very masculine men doubled over in glee seemed to numb my mind a little. Weren't those guys bickering only a few seconds ago? What was so funny?

'Awh, bro, there'll be no more teasing Jake and me after this you know.' Quil looked like a child on Christmas morning.

An arm snaked around my shoulders, and I looked up into Paul's mischievous grin. 'Why, hello little lady.'

Embry growled. I don't mean human pathetic noises of frustration. I mean full on body shaking, harsh vibrations that should have terrified me. In fact, they did terrify poor Louise, who was shaking too – but from fear not anger. I felt like I should be comforting them both, but I simply had no idea what was going on. I signed up for a gap year in a quiet area of a different country, to experience a different culture. This was so far from normal, my brain sort of shut down. I suppose it was from shock.

A loud sigh interrupted my internal confusion. Quil shook his sodden hair over the lot of us, then grabbed both Embry and Paul, and started dragging them towards the surrounding forest. The other two joined in and eventually Louise, Alan and I were left alone on the beach.

'You guys are so weird' Alan sulked, and wondered off to sit by the fire. It surprised me that no one else had noticed the exchange, but then the group around the fire were making a fair amount of noise themselves'.

Louise and I simply gawked at each other. Tonight really hadn't gone to plan.

**This is my first fanfiction, so please review! **


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own the twilight saga. Stephenie Meyer does**

**Chapter 3**

'Right you lot, I'd like you to meet our new waitress. Say hi to Claire and be nice.' With that Sarah strutted off, probably to do something she thought more important, such as cleaning her finger nails. (Ok, ok, I'll try to be less mean. But seriously, how hard is it to crack a smile every now and then?)

Poor Claire. At least I wasn't the new girl any more. I guessed her to be a couple of years younger than me. She smiled brightly at us. 'Hey guys. I've got the evening shift on school nights, so it'll be good to get to know you. Would someone mind showing me to the ladies? I'd kind of like to get out of these wet things.' One big difference I'd experienced so far was how much it rained here, so I sympathised with her.

Claire was smiling expectantly at me - I guess my face is pretty easy to read. 'Sure, it's this way.' As we headed towards the back of the building, Claire bumped against my shoulder. The girl was practically skipping down the corridor.

'So, what's your name blondie?' She looked so happy about something, I couldn't complain about the nickname.

'It's Callie' She grinned at me.

'How long have you worked here?'

'Just a week, I've only just moved here.'

'Ooh! That explains it! I love your accent. Where are you from?' Claire was positively clapping her hands and dancing with excitement. She must be bored or desperate for money, or something, to be so excited to work here. Don't get me wrong, I liked to too (when Sarah was out) but I couldn't imagine being that excited about working.

'Um, England, near London.' I tried not to make it sound like a question. She grinned at me and bounced into the ladies. I walked back to the kitchen to finish my shift, shaking my head slightly.

When I'd packed up at the end of the day, I found Louise and Claire chatting as they wiped down tables. 'So, why'd you want to work in the Lodge? It's quite a way from the reservation.'

'Oh, I like to get away now and again. I don't think I've left La Push since I was two.' I met her eyes, and she blushed. Oddly, I didn't think she was telling us the complete truth.

'Awh, no! Really? Well, why don't we and some of the girls go out to Port Angeles sometime?'

'That'd be amazing!' Claire's grin was in danger of making her mouth touch her ears. 'Callie, you'd come wouldn't you?' She looked at me expectantly.

'Er, sure, if no one minds.'

'You don't mind, do you Louise?' Louise shook her head with a little smile. Just then, the door opened and a huge, damp, russet skinned man walked in. A shock ran through me, until I realised it wasn't the guy from the beach. Well, this man hand been there, but he'd been even wetter – due to his dip in the sea.

'Hey Claire bear! How was it?' He looked at her as if he hadn't seen her in months - maybe even years. The amount of care and love in his gaze was breath-taking.

She ran to him, and he caught her up in a tight hug, twirling her round in a circle. 'Hi Quil' she beamed at him. 'It was pretty cool. I'm glad I came here.' Her look seemed to tell him more than her words. Although I've seen more attractive people, they were beautiful together. They looked like they belonged by each others' side. Brother or lover, I wondered to myself, hoping it was the former since there was probably a 10 year age gap between them.

'Quil, this is Louise and Callie' She motioned towards us.

'Hi there. I think we met on the beach on Saturday. It's good to meet you properly.' People around here really could be very friendly. I smiled as I greeted him, elbowing Louise subtly. She waved at him timidly.

'Well, we better be off. See you tomorrow.' With that, Claire pulled Quil out the door into the drizzle.

I looked at Louise. 'Do you really believe they're clones?' I asked, wanting her to have changed her mind. They didn't seem to be doing any harm, and if Quil could make Claire that happy, I didn't want Louise to be afraid of them.

She looked at me with a pained expression. 'Oh Callie, I don't know. Maybe I was wrong. You won't tell anyone what I thought will you?' Her eyes bore into my skull.

'Of course not. They are, well, they are different. But I don't see why you should be scared of them.'

She looked at me like I'd gone mad. 'Have you had your eyes closed all this time? They're huge! And those muscles...' An awed and scared look crossed her face. She was the closest thing I had to a friend here, so I tried to comfort her.

'They probably work out a lot. Come on, he called her "Claire bear". Since when do the bad guys call their - erm - friends names like that?'

At least that made her laugh, even if it was a little shaky. 'True. Well, I hope they're only friends. He was so hot.' She looked at me guiltily.

'You've just been trying to put me off them, haven't you? You want one of them for yourself.' I said through my giggles.

'Shut up new girl. Some of us have better places to be.' Grinning, she flapped her apron at me and hurried outside.

We had decided to go for a meal in Port Angeles that Friday. All the Lodge staff had been invited, although only the waiting staff and I wanted to go. Sarah had declined rather politely, and Eric (the other person who worked in the kitchen) couldn't find a babysitter.

That left our group mainly female. However, some of the girls invited their boyfriends, and Claire wanted to invite Quil.

'Hey Louise, mind if I bring Quil along?' Claire asked.

'Sure no problem.'

'Erm, is it ok if he brings a couple of friends, since he'll only know me?'

'Why not! The more the merrier.'

'Thank you! Are you bringing a date Lou?'

'Nah, I could only ask my brother, and well, I'd rather not.'

'Go on Louise!' I laughed. 'He's quite a charmer.' He had come in last week, treading muddy footprints across the newly cleaned floor. Being 7years old, he had done so with a grin and had been unrepentant.

I caught Claire glaring at me, which was out of character. I looked at her puzzled. 'What?'

'Nothing.'

To break the slightly awkward pause, Louise let out a loud sigh. 'Well, I better get back to work. I'd rather not spend my break thinking about my bratty little brother.'

'You just wait until he becomes a teenager' I smiled at her gratefully. She moaned and put her head in her hands in mock horror.

'He's a lot younger than us?' Claire asked hesitantly.

'I was thirteen when he was born.' Louise's face held an indulgent expression.

'Oh.'

So, that Friday we gathered outside a restaurant, grateful that it was dry for once. Louise and I were the last to arrive, and so it was clear to see how the three native guys stood out. They were all so tall! As we approached, I recognised Quil, who had his arm wrapped around Claire as if it had been designed to fit the curve of her shoulders. I was pretty sure I'd never met the tallest of the three (a giant in his own right), but I couldn't fail to recognise the other. I couldn't forget those eyes, which met mine immediately. Embry.

There were too many of us to fit around one table, so we had to split up. Claire insisted I sat with her, so I ended up opposite her, and sandwiched between the wall and Embry. The heat coming of his body made me regret wearing a jacket. I didn't know why I was strangely attracted to this man, who I had never said a word to. Maybe it was my interest in new culture, and his eyes screamed '_I am something different' _at me. Or it could have been that he was drop dead gorgeous.

I tried to keep my gaze on Claire, as the three masculine men around us made me shy. But my curiosity got the better of me, and as the waitress dropped off our drinks, my eyes strayed upwards.

He must have felt my eyes on his face. With a gentle smile caressing his face, he looked down at me and breathed 'Hi Callie.'

**I hope you enjoyed this – I tried to make this chapter longer. Please, please let me know what you thought of it – even if you hated it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

'Hi.' It came out like a sigh.

Usually, I get flustered around guys I am attracted to, but his gaze made me oddly calm. It felt natural to smile gently up at this stranger, and I had a sudden desire to lean against his shoulder – luckily I resisted.

Someone cleared their throat behind us. 'Hey, no ignoring your brothers' the man I had never met before huffed (the giant).

Claire glared at him. 'Jake!'

'What? The food is taking so long to come, I've got to distract myself before I starve.'

'So those three slices of chocolate cake you had before we came didn't fill you up at all?' Claire's tone was mildly disgusted.

'Not a bit' he smiled smugly.

Embry laughed. It was a low, relaxed chuckle, and it sounded beautiful. I shook my head to get rid of my 'wow you are so hot' daze.

Despite Jakes worries, our food soon arrived, and the conversation wondered. How we managed to get onto topics like building sheds and the benefits of palm trees, I'll never know. I was so relaxed. The food was good but nothing special, the atmosphere was light and joking; I could have stayed there all night. And I was so warm.

As the evening progressed, the space heater that was Embry gradually approached me, so that by the time we were eating desert, our legs brushed underneath the table. At first, I tightened my muscle out of reflex, withdrawing slightly – I'm not really a touchy feely person. But as the evening lulled me into a state of calmness, I relaxed my leg and just enjoyed the comforting strength of his leg, against mine.

The meal finished too quickly, and we all reluctantly paid the bill and went to the car park. 'So, where to now?' asked Quil.

Louise wondered over to our group. 'Well, if you're not ready to go home, there's always the cinema.'

'Is anything on?'

'Not much. There only seems to be horrors on at the moment.'

I shuddered. Scary films don't do anything for me. However, Louise caught peoples' attention, and a group wanted to go including Claire and Quil (I was beginning to think they did everything together).

A warm hand rested on my shoulder. 'You don't want to go, do you?' Embry asked gently. He must have read the look on my face – I don't seem to be able to stop my feelings showing. Still, we weren't facing each other, so I flattered myself with the notion he was watching me.

I shook my head. 'Not really. I just don't like paying to be scared and grossed out.' If I made a joke out of it, maybe he wouldn't think I was a wimp.

'That's alright. Want me to drive you home?' It was a pretty generous offer, considering the fact it was obvious he'd driven the others from the reservation over. I was pretty thrilled he'd asked though.

'Are you sure? What about the others?'

Claire had been listening in. 'Hey Louise, mind if you give me, Quil and Jake a lift back?'

'Sure, no problem. There won't be a lot of room though, since I'm taking Callie home.'

Embry looked at me eagerly. His eyes were urging me say something. 'It's ok Louise, Embry's offered to give me a lift back now.'

There was a pause. 'You don't want to see the movie?' She looked at confused – which was strange considering she hadn't been keen to watch it either.

'Not really. I've had a good evening though.' I smiled at her.

'Well, if you really don't want to see it,' she was trying to figure out how I felt, 'I could take you home now?' Her eyes were flickering from me to Embry, to the group to her right.

Embry butted in. 'It's ok, I don't want to see it either. It's really no problem for me to take her home.' he said to Louise, his voice seeming to caress the word 'her', but that could have been wishful thinking. Then he looked pointedly at the group to her right and smiled slightly.

Louise blushed. 'If you're sure?' Embry nodded. 'Ok, thanks. See you Callie.'

'Bye. I hope you enjoy the film.'

And then we were alone.

'So, erm, yeah, my car's this way.' Self-consciously, Embry pointed to the left, and we started to amble in that direction.

We walked in silence for a while, but Embry seemed to want to break the silence, starting to say something then stopping.

'What's your favourite colour?' He blurted out suddenly.

Surprised, I stopped and looked up at him. 'Erm...'

'Oh damn, sorry, it doesn't matter' he looked upset about something, and oddly agitated. His hands were trembling, and he fidgeted nervously.

It was upsetting to see him look so lost. 'Normally blue, but sometimes green.' I offered softly, searching his face for his usual gentle confidence.

'Oh. Ok.' He looked relieved, before cringing slightly.

Acting on impulse, I stepped forward and rested my hand on his arm. 'Hey, it's ok. My favourite colour is not a secret.' I tried to smile at him, encouraging him to relax.

He breathed in sharply, before slowly letting it out, leaning over me slightly. 'Sorry about that.' We smiled cautiously at each other.

I squeezed his arm gently before letting go. My hand felt abruptly cold and empty. 'So, where's your car again?' We started walking, closer to each other than we had been before. Smiling, I looked straight ahead. 'What's your favourite colour?'

Embry laughed softly. 'Red. I see so much green living on the Rez, it's a nice contrast.' That made me grin.

'You're fed up of greenness? It's not like you see it every day or anything.'

He nudged me gently with his shoulder (well his arm really, seeing as he was so tall). 'Very funny. You try growing up in the wettest part of the States and still loving green.'

'Well, you could always move.'

'I can't.' The mood was suddenly serious.

'Sure, you'd get bored of the dry and be homesick.' I wanted to understand his mood swing, but didn't want to pry. Everything felt easy and natural between us, but in reality we barely knew each other.

'It's not that. I just, this is where I belong. The green isn't that bad, and there are some advantages of living here.'

'Like what?' I asked curiously. I didn't doubt there where good points of living here, I just wanted to know which ones he meant.

'Well, the hills, the cliffs, beaches and the sea. And meeting the few wayward foreigners would end up here.' He smiled cheekily at me, which was sweet.

'It's not such a bad place to end up.'

The drive back to Margaret's was peaceful, as we got to know one another a little better. I found out that he'd grown up with Quil and Jake (his best friends), La Push was the only place he'd ever really known, and that he liked tea not coffee. I told him a bit about my home in England, and that the only hot drinks I liked were hot chocolate and squash – he pulled a face at the latter. I was sad to see the Margaret's white walls and her beat up Skoda.

'Thanks for the lift. It's been a nice evening.'

'It's was really no problem. I'm glad we had this time together.' My heart started to beat a little faster.

'Me too.'

'I'll see you around sometime.' He said confidently.

'Ok.' We smiled at each other, both unwilling for me to get out of the car. But in the end I tore myself away, and waved as he drove off. As the silver car disappeared around the corner, I felt oddly lonely, and hurried in to tell Margaret about my evening.

**Sorry if you've been waiting for this chapter – been very busy with revision!**


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